Dropped Passes

This statistic is especially relevant after a Wild Card weekend that left fields littered with footballs that should've been caught. Dropped passes is the statistic that bothers me more than any other. NFL receivers simply shouldn't drop as many passes as they do. Terrific football talents like Terrell Owens, Plaxico Burress, nearly every Seattle Seahawks receiver on the catching end of Matt Hasselbeck throws, Marques Colston, and Michael Crabtree sometimes made the game tough to watch. Too many footballs that hit their hands ended up on the ground. None should. The Arizona Cardinals offense of the mid-2000s were fun to watch because of the excellent pass-catching talents of Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin. Even though they had a long line of mediocre quarterbacks throwing to them. Their game film and Cris Carter should be a must-watch tutorial for any kid with receiver dreams.

Here are the NFL drops by team.

Team Drops Dallas Cowboys 8 Tennessee Titans 9 Atlanta Falcons 11 New England Patriots 11 Washington Redskins 11 Cincinnati Bengals 12 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 12 Miami Dolphins 13 Buffalo Bills 14 Denver Broncos 14 Green Bay Packers 15 Seattle Seahawks 15 Minnesota Vikings 16 Arizona Cardinals 18 San Diego Chargers 18 New Orleans Saints 20 Carolina Panthers 21 Cleveland Browns 21 Jacksonville Jaguars 22 Los Angeles Rams 22 New York Giants 22 Pittsburgh Steelers 22 Chicago Bears 23 Houston Texans 23 Baltimore Ravens 24 Philadelphia Eagles 24 San Francisco 49ers 24 Indianapolis Colts 25 Kansas City Chiefs 26 Detroit Lions 28 Oakland Raiders 29 New York Jets 30

Running back Matt Asiata had five of the Vikings 16 drops. He really has to learn that he can't run with the football before he catches it.

The Indianapolis Colts standing on this list is striking. There was a time, not all that long ago, that the receiving group highlighted by Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne, and Dallas Clark might take a few seasons before they hit 25 drops.

Drew Brees has thrown a bunch of passes to a bunch of receivers in his time with the Saints. His current group might have the best hands that he's ever had. Marques Colston, Devery Henderson, and Robert Meachem let too many beautifully thrown passes get away from them.

The act of catching a football seems so simple. So simple, that it's stunning to see so many NFL receivers have such a problem with it.